Hosts Rwanda will be looking to organise the best of the fourth edition of the Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) when the finals tournament kicks off on January 16 and run until February 7. CHAN 2016 will be the third CAF-sanctioned tournament that is hosted in Rwanda after the U-20 Africa Youth Championship in 2009 and the U-17 version in 2011 when Rwanda reached the final to qualify for the U-17 FIFA World Championship in Mexico. The first edition, which was played in Ivory Coast in 2009, had just eight teams and 16 matches were played in total. DR Congo were the inaugural winners after defeating Ghana 2-0 in the final. Following the success of the inaugural edition, CAF increased the number of participating teams to 16 for the second edition in Sudan, same as the number that plays at the AFCON finals tournament. It is in Khartoum where Rwanda debuted having qualified as second round winners from Central Eastern Zone along with Uganda. However, Branko Tucak’s Amavubi team finished bottom of Group D, which also had Senegal, Angola and table leaders Tunisia, the eventual champions—Tunisia beat Angola 3-0 in the final. Amavubi didn’t qualify for the next edition in South Africa, which was won by Libya, who overcame Ghana’s Black Stars 4-3 on spot kicks following a goalless draw in normal time. For 2016, Rwanda did not have to go through the rigours of qualifying courtesy of being hosts and as the home team, Amavubi will have the presumed advantage hence the added pressure that comes with high expectations. Nonetheless, regardless of how the team performs, success in terms of organization would go a long way to convince CAF that Rwanda can as well host the real Africa Cup of Nations.
